USA Road Trip 2019

April - July 2019
Simon & Jackie’s 3 month Road Trip across the USA
  • 86footprints
  • 2countries
  • 85days
  • 763photos
  • 13videos
  • 35.0kkilometers
  • 6.8kkilometers
  • Day 1

    Day 1 - Back in the USA

    April 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    Oh Great - Apparently we can order drinks from the comfort of our aircraft seat by swiping a credit card into the bottom of the tv screen in front of you. Suddenly Jackie has turned from computer technophobe to tech savvy in an instant. 2 small bottles of red wine just $14 - bargain.

    The windows on the Norwegian Air Dreamliner are 65% bigger than conventional aircraft windows, which afforded us great views of the icy tundra of Quebec, Canada, then Lake Michigan & Chicago below.

    After 8 hours our Flight DI1715 landed at O’Hare International Airport, Chicago at 1820 hours Central Time Zone. The captain announced that the outside temperature was a positively balmy 26 degrees. Looks like we will be carrying our puffa jackets!

    Immigration & Customs was painless, then we took a shuttle bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 to catch a CTA Train into Chicago city centre.

    My extensive research told us that we need a CTA 3 Day Ventra Ticket that would would give us unlimited Train & Bus use around Chicago. These tickets could be bought from vending machines at the airport for $20 each.

    Having located said vending machine, we tapped in our requirements, then attempted to pay. Every payment card, credit card & debit card was rejected. Brilliant, we would have to pay cash then. Jackie dug deep into her rucksack to retrieve her purse, then pulled out a wad of US dollars that she had obviously been practicing origami with. They were creased & folded in all directions.

    Jackie tried to stuff the crumpled dollars into the machine, but funnily enough it kept rejecting them. I hurriedly tried to straighten them out as the machine repeatedly kept asking us if we wanted to abort the transaction as we were taking too long. After about 20 attempts, we eventually got 4 $10 dollar bills to be accepted & the vending machine spat out out tickets.

    More stressed that we should have been, we boarded the CTA Train on the Blue Line to Chicago city centre. After 19 stops & 1 change, we alighted at ‘Chicago’ the nearest stop to our hotel.

    We carried our rucksacks, well Jackie dragged hers, the short distance to our hotel, the Warwick Allerton Chicago. Nice ‘Executive King Room’, we dumped our luggage, then headed out for some much needed refreshment.

    We headed alone the Magnificent Mile & very quickly came across the Labriola Ristorante & Café which appeared to suit our requirements. We sat at the bar (when in Rome) & consumed a couple of pints of a local beer - Half Acre Pony Pilsner. The problem with sitting at the bar is people can sit next to you & some old boy did just that. He tried to engage me in conversation, but I wasn’t really in the mood for it.

    Chicago is well known for it’s Deep Dish Pizzas. Neither of us likes thick pizzas, but luckily for us Labriola claims to be the best in Chicago! So, (when in Rome) we ordered a 12” Danny’s Special Deep Dish Pizza, which contained Russo Sausage, mushrooms, green peppers & onions, as well as a large vat of mozzarella cheese.

    We managed about a quarter of it between us, then the very pleasant barmaid boxed up the rest for us to take home. We tried to find a homeless person, but couldn’t, so we chucked it in a bin.

    By 2300 hours we were back at the hotel, where we crashed out.

    Song of the Day - Back in the USA by MC5
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  • Day 2

    Day 2 - Skyscrapers & The Blues

    April 23, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Woke up at 3.30am - not surprised. By 4.10am still wide awake in America, so decided to start my blog. Slow start it took me close on an hour to complete, when total disaster struck. I hadn’t saved it & somehow managed to hit a wrong button & lost the lot. After a lot of F**ks, I calmed down & started again. Lesson learnt, save it as you go. Have I not heard this before somewhere?

    At a sensible time of morning, I looked out of the window of our 9th floor ‘Executive King Room’ to see that it looked grey & damp outside & the tops of the skyscrapers were in the clouds. I also espies 2 idiots dangling off the side of one skyscraper, presumably cleaning the windows.

    At 8.30am we set out for a day of sightseeing and an early breakfast in a local cafe. We were both in our blue Rab puffa jackets, jeans, walking boots & matching rucksacks. Very Harold & Hilda!

    Chicago is famed for it’s skyscrapers, architecture & sculptures. I had a loose itinerary for us to follow, so that we could see the most iconic buildings & statues. First on my list was the Wrigley Building which right on our doorstep - or so I thought.

    We hunted high & low, but couldn’t find it. Great start! (We later found it next to Trump Towers). Next was the Holy Name Cathedral, which had a stunning interior. Whilst Jackie said a prayer, I snapped off a couple of photos, but felt slightly uneasy about doing so, so I tried to do it discreetly when the staff weren’t looking.

    Next on the itinerary was supposed to be a stroll along the famous Navy Pier. We got to the Lake Michigan shore road, but the Navy Pier in the distance didn’t look too open, so I postponed our visit to it. Instead, we ran the gauntlet of crossing numerous multi-carriageway roads to get to Millennium Park.

    En-route we crossed the Chicago River and saw Trump Towers & the elusive Wrigley Building. We then made our way to Maggie Daley Park, a kids paradise of skating tracks & climbing walls. My idea of hell, so we crossed the impressive BP Bridge into Millennium Park. We passed the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which is a state of the art outdoor concert venue. In the summer they apparently have free concerts & the acoustics are superb.

    Next was Cloud Gate, a public sculpture created by Sir Anish Kapoor. Cloud Gate is better known as ‘The Bean’. It is a polished chrome blob that reflects the Chicago skyline. We attempted to take the obligatory selfie & after numerous attempts we managed to produce one that wasn’t too horrendous. It appears either my arms are too short or my face is too fat or both! We then uploaded it to instagram (thanks Beth) - Get us!

    By now it was 11.00am & we were now starving. We stopped at the first Café we found called Panera Bread. I ordered a breakfast wrap only to be told that breakfast was good over. Working on the theory that American portions are massive, we both ordered just a half a flatbread sandwich & coffee . Unfortunately it was as described - Half a sandwich. I accidentally used the ladies toilets & got caught by a female staff member as I was coming out. I also managed to trip up on a cleaning sign as we were leaving, which made a hell of a racket. We won’t be going back!

    Still hungry, we pressed on southwards down Millennium Park. Next was the Crown Fountain which was blank because we could see it was being cleaned from the inside. The fountain should depict local residents faces. As we made to move on, the fountain burst into life & a girls face appeared without the water, surely only then qualifying it as a fountain.

    Next was the Art Institute of Chicago. Apparently one of America’s premier museums and houses the ‘American Gothic’ painting by Grant Wood. The entrance fee is $25 each so we didn’t bother, instead we made do with taking a photo of the 2 lion sculptures at the front.

    It was then into Grant Park to admire the following statues, ‘Spirit of Music’, ‘General John Logan Memorial’, ‘The Spearman’ & my favourite, the ‘Agora Statues’.

    At the end of the park, we took the train back one stop on The Loop & went in search of the iconic buildings. We stumbled across the Harold Washington Library, the Old Colony Building , the Second Leiter Building & plenty of others too numerous to mention.

    We passed Alexander Calder’s Flamingo statue, then located The Rookery I was particularly keen to see. The Rookery is in the heart of the downtown Financial District & is a looker on the outside, but is stunning on the inside, with its ornate staircase & glass ceiling.

    We stepped outside a different door to be confronted by the architecturally impressive Chicago Board of Trade Building. CBOT is the first of its kind in the world! After admiring several other Banking related buildings, we moved on to see the Picasso Statue, the Chicago Temple & The Alise, considered to be Chicago’s finest boutique hotel.

    Looking out of place amongst the skyscrapers, we came across St. Peter’s Church with a large statue of Jesus on the cross above the door. We went in to discover that a service was taking place. Jackie said a prayer & dabbed her forehead with holy water.

    Lunch consisted of 2 pints of beer each in The Berghoff Restaurant’s bar in the Theatre District.

    After a well earned rest, we walked to the Chicago Cultural Center - for some culture! The building itself was stunning particularly the stained glass domed ceilings including the world’s largest Tiffany Art glass dome (Is there another one?). We didn’t dwell on the content other than to browse a display on Chicago - The Musical.

    Now feeling somewhat rather leg weary, we caught a CTA bus to Navy Pier. It is billed as one of Chicago’ highlights - I beg to differ. It is mainly touristy shops & restaurants & a big wheel. We walked halfway down the Pier until we got bored, then walked back & headed to our hotel.

    En-route we stopped at a Café called Buona for a ‘Chicago Hotdog’ (when in Rome) & coffee.

    We got to our hotel room around 5.00pm, Jackie went sleep, I didn’t. At 8.00pm, we dragged ourselves back out. We took the Red Line CTA Train back to Downtown Chicago & straight to Buddy Guy’s Legends, a famous Chicago music venue actually owned & occasionally frequented by the man himself.

    Tonight’s scheduled show was Jamiah Rogers (His album ‘Blues Superman ‘ is on Spotify) and his band which was due to start at 9.30pm. We paid the $10 entrance fee & got ourselves a nice little table with a good view of the stage. I absolutely loved the ambiance with blues booming out from the speakers. I explored the venue, which had loads of guitars belonging to the greats - Richards, Wood, Clapton, Beck, Sumlin etc etc & other memorabilia. We had waitress service at our table, where we supped beer & wine. I had a pint of Anti-Hero IPA 6.5abv, a pint of Fat Tire 5.2abv & 2 pints of Goose Island Green Line 5.0abv. Jackie had a pint of Blue Moon 5.4abv & 3 Merlots. What really impressed me was the drinks were cheap!!

    At 9.30pm sharp, Jamiah and his band took to the stage and belted out some great tunes, both oldies & his own original numbers. They were fantastic and put on a real show. Jamiah got some incredible sounds from his guitar & worked the pace up down, whilst pulling strange faces. A great showman.

    At 10:30pm, mid song, an old git in an electric blue shirt & trilby hat shuffled on to the stage with microphone in hand. The audience went wild. It was only the man himself who then started singing. I didn’t know the song myself, he could have been just ad-libbing, but by god he was good. He had the audience eating out of his hand, then 10 minutes later he shuffled off.

    It left me wondering whether we were exceptionally lucky to be treated to a rare performance or whether he did this every night. Either way, I felt privileged to have seen him perform.

    Poor old Jamiah, then returned to the front of the stage & tried to re-engage with the audience, which he did, with old classics like ‘All Along The Watchtower’ until 11.00pm.

    During this time I had noticed that Buddy was stood in reception & people were having photos with him, which were closely monitored by his bodyguards. Before Jamiah’s set had finished, I observed Buddy leave the building flanked by his bodyguards. Jackie nearly crashed straight into him as she returned from the loo, but she didn’t even notice. I was by now kicking myself that I hadn’t got a selfie with the main man.

    But luck was on my side, or so I thought, because Buddy returned & sat at the bar. This was to good an opportunity, so I made my way over & asked his bodyguard if I could have a photo. Weirdly he pointed me in the direction of the girl selling the merchandise, who told me I could have a photo but only if I bought a T-shirt or poster first. No chance, not at $25 for the T-shirts. It seemed a real shame that Buddy felt the need to generate extra cash this way.

    Never mind, this didn’t spoil what was a fantastic evening. We fought the Train back & we both asleep by midnight.

    FITBIT shows that we walked over 29,000 steps equating to 13.5 miles. Not sure how accurate they are, but still an active day.

    Note to self: Write less in future.

    Song of the Day - Blues Superman by Jamiah Rogers.

    Bonus Songs of the Day :-

    Bad - Live by U2 (from Wide Awake In America)
    Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues by Buddy Guy
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  • Day 3

    Day 3 - Chicago Murder Scenes Seen

    April 24, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Woke up around 4:30am starving hungry. I completed our blog in bed then got ready for the day ahead.

    By 8.00am, we were back out treading the sidewalks of Chicago. We jumped on a train on the Red Line with all the other commuters, switched to the Blue Line and got off at Clinton.

    After a short walk, we arrived at the famous Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant which is generally believed to be the start of Route 66. Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant is a classic American Diner which has featured in numerous movies including Ali, The Weatherman & The Watcher. Presidents Obama, Bush & Carter have also eaten there over years.

    Jackie ordered a skillet of eggs & bacon, whilst I had thick French Toast swimming in maple syrup & fluffy butter. Both washed down with unlimited cups of the ‘Worlds Best’ coffee. It was absolutely delicious, obviously helped by the fact that we were starving.

    Fully satiated, we paid up & left. Outside I took a couple of photos of the restaurant, which having it’s windows & pavement washed. As I was doing this a big black car had pulled up & I overheard one of the employees say to 2 posh women “We will ready for you in just one minute”. As we walked away Jackie told me that there was definitely a VIP in the back of the car because the women were talking to someone in the back of the car & they had a couple of vehicles on blue lights escorting them. I was tempted to go back, but didn’t want to appear like some sad celebrity stalker.

    We walked down to the Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower. Allegedly it is still the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere & was the world’s tallest building when it was built in 1973. Looking up we could see the protruding glass floors that visitors could stand on for just $25 per person. Why?

    We made our way along N LaSalle Street until we arrived at the Chicago river. We followed the Riverwalk down Wacker Drive & admired the awe inspiring buildings including the Reid, Murdoch & Co Building, Marina City & The Langham Chicago to name a few. We photo’d the Heald Square Monument & The Gentlemen statue.

    We passed Trump Tower, popped into The Wrigley Building, then stopped at Peet’s Coffee & Tea for a coffee & mainly so I could use the loo. After our enforced pit stop, we passed the iconic Tribune Tower, then head north on a train on the Red Line.

    We alighted at Fullerton in the Lincoln Park district of Chicago. After a short walk, we found our venue of interest - The Biograph Theatre. It gained it’s notoriety as the place where infamous bank robber, John Dillinger was shot dead by the FBI on 22nd July 1934.

    After taking the obligatory photo, I looked at the buildings opposite & was amazed to see that in the diminutive Lincoln Hall, Billy Bragg was advertised as playing there for 3 nights starting on Thursday. Sadly that is the day we leave Chicago, otherwise we would have had to have gone.

    Next stop, just down the road was Oz Park, presumably because of the random Wizard of Oz statues randomly erected around the park. The park was generally a bit scruffy, but quite busy.

    Next a Parking Lot off N Clark St, just a 10 minute walk from Oz Park. So why were we here Jackie asked, well because it was the scene of the St. Valentines Day Massacre. There was not a lot to see, but it was still worth a visit if interested in historical criminal events.

    For those who don’t know, the St. Valentines Day Massacre was the murder of 7 members of the North Side Gang in 1929. They were lined up against a garage wall & shot by assailants wearing police uniform. The perpetrators were never officially identified, but they were believed to be a gang working for Al Capone, as well as Chicago Police Officers exacting revenge for the death of a Police Officer’s son.

    Next on our itinerary was Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free entry - thank god....It was generally all a bit sad. We started in the African area, but just a procession of empty enclosures. We only saw 2 giraffes, the rhinos were having an indoors day & no sign whatsoever of the lions.

    Next we came across a polar bear swimming in a pool, when I say swimming, it was going round & round in a small circle making the same jittery movements over again. It wasn’t nice to watch. The polar bear was also going bald & there was sign saying it was allergy related, although quite frankly it was more likely to be stressed related.

    Next was a solitary meerkat that was stationary & looked scared out of its wits. We went into the bird house, where we saw exotic birds housed in small indoor enclosures. We also saw a red kangaroo lying on its back in such an awkward way, that it wouldn’t surprise me if it was dead. The zebras looked sad, the camels looked scruffy mainly because they were moulting, but one also had a hump that had flopped down it’s side. All very depressing.

    The only highlight at the zoo were the gorillas. There were 7 or 8 gorillas that looked healthy & had a nice enclosure to live & play in.

    Interesting Fact : The zoo purchased it’s first animal in 1872 - a bear cub for $10.

    We didn’t hang around at the zoo & caught a bendy CTA bus back to the city centre. It was now 2.30pm so decided to go & have a rest at the hotel before going out later.

    Around 6.00pm, we were back out heading up the Magnificent Mile to The John Hancock Center, the 2nd tallest building in Chicago. As we looked up to the top we could see some minute multi coloured rectangles. These were the TILT booths the tilt out 30 degrees in the 360 Chicago Observation Deck on the 94th floor. This treat cost just $25 per person - No Thank You.

    Instead we smugly took the lift, which took literally just a couple of seconds, to the FREE Signature Lounge on the 96th floor. There was a queue for window seats, so we joined ‘anywhere else will do’ line and were immediately shown to a table with a wholly satisfactory view.

    The waitress came over with a menu & I was pleasantly surprised to see the prices weren’t extortionate. We ordered a beer each at just over $10 each. I was not so amused when the waitress returned with a small bottle for Jackie & an even smaller can for me.

    I had intended for us to stay until sunset at 7.40pm, but after 40 minutes of nursing the same drink (I was too tight to buy another one) we were bored so we left. In any event, I had walked around the Lounge & taken enough photos in every direction. Tip - It is probably best not to have a window seat, because idiots like me are prodding their cameras around your head trying to get the perfect aerial shot of Chicago!

    In the lobby on the ground floor of The John Hancock Center, we found a decorative light globe thing worthy of a photo. I got Jackie to pose next to it as I snapped her. It was at this point that an old boy in uniform who clearly worked there came over & asked if we would like a photo of us both. We agreed, but shouldn’t have bothered because my eyes were shut!

    The old boy said that he doesn’t normally offer, but he likes the Brits because we were polite. Then out of the blue he asked, “Is Tommy Robinson still in prison?” I replied, “I don’t know, I think so”, to which the old boy declared “I like Tommy Robinson. He should be your next Prime Minister”. We made our excuses & left.

    I then marched Jackie all the way back down the Magnificent Mile (now not so Magnificent in Jackie’s eyes) to the Michigan - Wacker Historic District. When we finally got there, Jackie looked on miserably as I tried to take some photos of the buildings now all lit up.

    Feeling under pressure to get on with it so we could get something to eat, I snapped away randomly & generally got on Jackie’s nerves. Sadly I shouldn’t have bothered, the photos all turned out to be blurry & rubbish.

    Next we hunted out the famous ‘Billy Goat Tavern’. It was down a dark & dingy road under the bright lights of the Magnificent Mile above. We nearly decided to find somewhere else, but so glad we didn’t. It was an old fashioned bar full of memorabilia & bonus, pints of Billy Goat lager were just $4.

    The nice bar manager on hearing we were British came over for a chat & gave us a detailed description of the history of the bar. In summary, the original Billy Goat Tavern was opened up in 1937 by a Greek immigrant, William Sianis. It was then situated across from the Chicago stadium. Sianis got the nickname ‘Billy Goat’ when a goat fell off a passing lorry & he kept as a pet.

    The Chicago Cubs got to the baseball finals around that time & Sianis bought 2 tickets for him & his goat. Allegedly Sianis was refused entry because of the goat, so he cursed the team that they would never win the finals in his lifetime. They didn’t & have only since recently won it in 2016.

    The Billy Goat Tavern is still a family run business & moved to its current location in 1964. The Tavern was frequented by influential newspaper editors & sports journalists, notably from the Chicago Tribune. BGT became famous, when a news person joined Saturday Night Live on NBC & wrote a sketch about the Tavern.

    The Tavern also has a grill & we each ordered a Double Cheezborger (That is how they are spelt). After adding our own gherkins & onions, I wolfed mine down - so lovely. I then committed ‘Crime of the Century’ by suggesting we have another. After much negotiation to justify I wasn’t a ‘greedy bastard’, I ordered a single Cheezborger just for me.

    After a 2nd pint, it was only 9.00pm, but we were knackered so we paid up, trooped up the MM for a finally time & went to bed.

    Fitbit shows we took 24,800 steps today around 11.5 miles.

    Song of the Day - Chicago by Frank Sinatra.

    Bonus Songs of the Day :-

    Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards by Billy Bragg
    St Valentines Day Massacre by Mark Foggo’s Skasters
    At The Zoo by Simon & Garfunkel
    The Magnificent Seven by The Clash
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  • Day 4

    Day 4 - Heading Out on Route 66

    April 25, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Woke up silly o’clock again. Had the chore of repacking our rucksacks, which for me included forcing 10 pairs of socks into one pair of boots, finding room for about 300 tablets & rolling T-shirts & shirts into skinny sausages.

    Next we popped down to reception to enquire about the best means of getting out to Franklin Park, about 18 miles away, to collect our RV from CruiseAmerica. The previous evening a grumpy Jackie & I had a let’s say animated discussion about how to get there today. I was happy to take a combination of trains & buses which would take approximately an hour & a half. Jackie was getting a taxi, which took 30 minutes, whatever the cost.

    The very helpful Lindsay in reception said that a taxi would cost between $50 - 60, however an Uber+ would be a lot less. I just needed to download the App & set up an account. I acted the technophobe I am & bless Lindsay assisted me set up our own Uber+ account AND gave us a discount code to get an additional $5 dollars off. Our fare was going to be just $29 - bargain.

    Feeling chuffed with our bargain, we headed out to wander aimlessly around the city and find somewhere that took our fancy for breakfast. On our meanderings we came across a one legged Traffic Warden actually booking someone up. This didn’t sight didn’t diminish my hunger and after an hour we had found what we were looking for - a good old fashioned diner full of locals.

    A rather portly waitress took our order. For Jackie, 3 fried eggs with sausage patties & I, 3 scrambled eggs with pork sausage, chorizo & bacon. They arrived in 10” skillets complete with hash browns, English muffins, orange juice & unlimited coffee & water. It felt like a Man v Food challenge which I won. Jackie didn’t. It was delicious.

    Stuffed, we waddled out to try & tried to walk some of it off. We popped into Macy’s for Jackie to make a purchase in The Body Shop, the admired the Water Tower outside, which had survived the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Then back to our hotel to checkout.

    Dead on time our Uber+ taxi arrived & took us to the CruiseAmerica offices back near the airport. We arrived at 12.40pm, 20 minutes early for our appointment. Quite frankly, the staff needed a rocket up their arses - the paperwork & the walk round the RV took so long. One American couple came over & introduced themselves to us (I’ve forgotten their names), but we are likely to see them again, because we are doing the same route.

    Finally, at 2.30pm & now running late, we hit the road. Ambitiously, I was hoping to drive over 200 miles to Springfield & look at some sights on the way.

    We headed south from CruiseAmerica for 10 miles, then picked up the old Historic Route 66 road towards Joliet. We passed Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket at Willowbrook, then headed into Joliet to see Hurrah’s Casino. We didn’t have time to stop in Joliet.

    We continued along Route 66 to the famous 30’ Gemini Giant. He is there to entice travellers into the Launching Pad Diner. We stopped for a photo at the foot of Mr Gemini, then felt compelled to get a coffee from the Launching Pad. The Diner was full of memorabilia & the manageress was keen to hear our travel plans.

    Next was the Polk-a-Dot Drive In at Braidwood, then on to Dwight where it all went wrong! We should have headed south west following Route 66 & Highway 55, unfortunately we drove Due south on Highway 47. It took us a long time to accept that we were on the wrong road, about 50 miles later.

    When we did, we took Highway 165, a road of the odd farmhouse & pretty much nothing else) due west for another 50 miles until we got to Bloomington & rejoined Highway 55. Sadly, as a result of our diversion we missed some sights in Odell & Pontiac.

    By now it was getting late so we hammered down Highway 55, stopping for $100 of fuel, then again at a Walmart in the Historic city of Lincoln. At Walmart, we bought some provisions, wine, popcorn, bread, ham etc & a toaster for just $8. We were served by 2 women at the till. The elder woman asked where were we from because we had funny accents. When we told her we were English, the 2nd woman said, “Wow, I’ve never heard an English accent, only in the movies”. Incredible.

    It was now gone 8.00pm & dark. I rang Linda, the owner of the Springfield campsite to make sure there was space for us that night. Linda answered & informed me that the campsite was locked, but we could camp in the field next door. Jackie was chuffed when I informed her.

    Anyway, we carried on & arrived at the Springfield KOA campsite an hour later. The office was in darkness & we noticed that we could drive straight in to a hookup that was free. This we did, plugged in the electric and sorted ourselves out - unpacking, making beds etc.

    After a ham sandwich, some popcorn & a couple of large glasses of wine, we called it a day sometime around midnight.

    FITBIT says 10,700 steps - 5 miles.

    Song of the Day - On the Road Again by Willie Nelson.
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  • Day 5

    Day 5 - It's all about Abe.

    April 26, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    At 3.40am I was rudely awoken by a loud thud, followed by Jackie wailing & crying. I jumped out of bed to find Jackie virtually naked with her backside wedged into the deep gap at the bottom of the door steps. I had to use all of my strength & pull her back out.

    HOW? Jackie has been sleeping on the bed above the cab. Apparently she got out of bed & attempted to step down on to a chair, missed her footing & somersaulted on to the floor and then down the steps, at the same time smashing her head into the fire extinguisher. What a sorry mess!

    We both got back to sleep & woke up at 6.30 & 8.00am respectively. I went out & found Linda, the campsite manager & paid up for our stopover. Linda was lovely & we hadn’t buggered up the night before. I showered on site, but Jackie was too shy & squeezed into the RV shower. By the way, the campsite was lovely in daylight, it was just a shame we got there so late the previous evening AND my ‘Adventure Sandals’ were getting their first airing of the trip.

    After a breakfast of cereal & English muffins (no more skillets for a while), we headed out on the road to Springfield, Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln. After some good attempts at going down one way streets the wrong way looking for a car park , we finally decided to stop in a parking space on the road. Only 25c for 30 minutes, another bargain. We spent a dollar.

    First stop was the imposing Illinois State Capitol with it’s zinc domes that shown brightly in the sun. There we a few statues in the grounds so I took a photo or 2, particularly of Abraham Lincoln smack bang in front of the building. We investigated as to whether were allowed to look inside & discovered we were allowed to pretty much walk round the whole building. It was stunning, all marble walls & floors, a glass dome & loads of statues. The building still houses the legislative & executive branches o the Government of the State of Illinois.

    We then passed The Governor’ house & headed to the Abraham Lincoln historic district. We went into the Old State Capitol, slightly inferior to Illinois State Capitol from the outside, but inside it had the feel more of a museum. I took a photo & we left fearing we might have to pay. We took in the Abraham Lincoln statues dotted all around Union Square Park.

    We the entered the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, but quickly left when we were directed to where we could buy tickets. We returned to the RV & drove a couple of blocks to Abraham Lincoln’s house. It was in a road of houses now owned by the US National Park Service & it was free. Abraham Lincoln lived In his house between 1844 & 1861. It was interesting, but Jackie wasn’t happy that they had painted the houses.

    A final visit in Springfield was to Oak Ridge Cemetery to visit the Tomb of Abraham Lincoln. Oak Ridge Cemetery is pretty big, because we drove in & managed to get lost. After a quite a lengthy cemetery driving tour, we found our way back out & literally abandoned the RV just entrance & walked back in.

    The 117 foot obelisk looked magnificent. As I took a photo, a tour guide came over & said “ You won’t ever get a better time to take a photo. clear blue skies, just a couple of school parties & the blossom in full bloom”. He was right. We then went inside to see the brass statue of Lincoln & his tomb.

    We were now all Abe’d out & hit the Highway 55 southbound. We pulled off at a tiny place called Farmersville for Jackie to make a coffee & sandwich. We then carried on Highway 55 which runs side by side with Route 66, so we were able to see some of the Route 66 landmarks, including Pink Elephant Antiques.

    We pulled off at Collinsville & somehow managed to miss ‘The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle’. This would be the last time we saw Route 66 whilst in the RV!

    We now headed westwards to Cahokia Mounds State National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Cahokia Mounds is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American City & is described as one of the greatest cities of the world. Cahokia was larger than London in 1250 AD. The park’s Visitors centre contained displays depicting life back then & lots of Native Americans selling their wares.

    Cahokia now consists of 80 mounds in 3.5 square miles, but in it’s heyday the city was nearly twice as late. We decided to scale the largest mound - Monks Mound (well I did & Jackie felt obliged to follow). The summit provided us with decent views all around including St. Louis & it’s Gateway Arch. The site is sacred for Native Americans & I am really glad we made the effort to visit.

    We then hotfooted it up to Granite City to Walmart for more provisions. Amongst other things, we went in for a dish cloth & came out with a pack of 18 & their smallest bottle of tomato sauce - enough to sink a battleship! We also had never seen so many weirdos (l won’t go into details) all in one place, everyone had something wrong with them or were just absolutely filthy or both - we fitted in well!

    At Walmart, I rang the local KOA campsite. They were just closing for the night but agreed to stay on for our arrival. We arrived at 6.00pm & hooked up. It was only now that we discovered that as a consequence of Jackie’s fall, her head had smashed a plastic cover on the inside of the door. Brilliant....that’s some of the deposit lost already!

    The site was not as scenic as last nights, but it suited our purposes. A nice hot shower & after a nice cold beer at the outside tables, Jackie cooked Arabiata pasta. We were both asleep around 9.00pm.

    FITBIT - 16,300 steps / 7.6 miles.

    Song of the Day - Route 66 by Chuck Berry.

    Bonus Song of the Day :-

    Abraham Lincoln by Clutch.
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  • Day 6

    Day 6 - St. Louis Blues

    April 27, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Didn’t wake up until 6.00am. The plan today was to get an Uber into St Louis, see the sights, get an Uber back out & then head west.

    Breakfast, showered, then I went to see went to see the campsite staff, if it was still ok to leave our RV here until we had seen what we needed to see in St Louis. Yes it was, so I fired up the Uber+ App & typed in my requirements. The journey into St. Louis was showing to be $34 - gulp.

    Urgent googling revealed that it was cheaper to stay at the Casino Queen RV park, then walk over the Mississippi River on Eads Bridge. We booked the Casino Queen RV park online, then headed out to see a couple of places of interest in the St Louis suburbs. Firstly we crossed the Mississippi alongside the Chain of Rocks Bridge & picked up Route 66.

    We followed the scenic river road, then took the ring road around St Louis intending to visit Laumeier Sculpture Park. It all got a bit hectic & at one point we ended up on a Highway with just 3 options to take Highways to either Chicago, Kansas City or Memphis. Using my extensive knowledge, we opted for Memphis & managed to get back on track.

    We arrived at Laumeier Sculpture Park just in time for it to absolutely pour down. No time to wait for it to stop, we headed out & squelched around the park. Highlights were the eyeball & for Jackie the big tall deer. 30 minutes later & pretty damp, we got back into the RV & headed off for Ulysses S. Grant National Park.

    Ulysses S. Grant was the victorious General who saved the Union. Well we drove round & round in circles, occasionally shouted at each other, and finally found it by accident. Time was now too precious, so we took a photo as we sped past it. No idea what delights we missed.

    We managed to get to the Casino Queen RV park without too much trouble. We arrived around 1.00 pm, but couldn’t get through the barrier. Our access code didn’t work, but luckily a fellow RV’er helped us to get in.

    Quick sandwich & coffee, then we walked the mile & a half over Eads Bridge spanning the Mississippi to Downtown St. Louis. The sun was back out. We went straight to the Gateway Arch which looked so impressive against the St. Louis skyline.

    We queued up for tickets, $14 for the tram ride to the top of the Gateway. The next hour & a half were painful. We moved between several 10 minute queues with an Indian family consisting of 4 adults of varying ages & 2 kids in front. Our guide was hilarious, not on purpose, but he had trouble with his iPad sound, which only seemed to only work when he was talking to a trainee with him. One of the kids was an absolute s**t & permanently screaming.

    My absolute nightmare, which only got worse, when he & his mother were allocated the same tram as us. It wasn’t a tram, it was a tiny capsule which required normally sized people to have to bow our heads just to get in.

    The tram took 4 minutes to reach the top - 630 ft. We peered out of the window slots, then waited for an age to take the tram back down. Jackie wasn’t impressed with the experience. It was painful, but I would have regretted it if we hadn’t of done it. From the top we could also look down into Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals were playing Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals won 6 - 3.

    We went & out over to the Old Court House, popped in & then out, then waited close to 30 minutes for a trolley bus. We passed our time watching hundreds of youngsters all dressed up for their prom night posing for photos in Kiener Plaza Park.

    I was planning to go to the City Museum. We bought a $2 hop on hop off ticket but unfortunately the bus that turned up was terminating at the Enterprise Center across town from the City Museum. We got on it anyway & then walked from the Enterprise Center (Home of the St. Louis Blues ice hockey team). There was lots of noise coming from within the Enterprise Center, which turned that their game with Dallas Stars was being shown on a big screen. The Blues lost 4 - 2.

    Our lengthy walk took us passed significant buildings of The Stifel Theatre, the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum & St. Louis Library. We finally arrived at the City Museum, which is like a giant art installation made from recycled junk. It is difficult to describe, but for example it has a fighter jet suspended over the entrance & a lorry hanging over the roof 6 storeys up. Unfortunately we could hear, it is also a glorified kids playground. More screaming kids was just too much for us, so we caught a bus back to the Gateway.

    We celebrated with the Cardinals fans in Caleco’s Bar & Grill with a couple of the local 4 Hands beer, then marched back across Eads Bridge to the RV.

    Jackie cooked a lovely chilli con-carne, whilst I caught up with blog. Again we were asleep by 9.00pm, shattered.

    FITBIT - 17,781 steps / 8.25 miles.

    Song of the Day - St. Louis Slim by Seasick Steve.

    Bonus Songs of the Day :-

    Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol
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  • Day 8

    Day 7 - A VERY Bad start to a long day.

    April 29, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    The plan for today was to get up at 6.00am & be on the road by 7.00 to put serious miles into our trip west. At 5.55am the longest loudest train passed just 50’ from RV, making sure that we did wake up.

    I went off for a shower & was pleased to see security driving round the park. Showered, I returned to the RV, only for Jackie to ask me to fill the fresh water tank up. I connected the hose to the tap then realised that the hose wouldn’t reach. Jackie was boiling the kettle on the gas stove, so I reversed the RV back until I suddenly heard the reversing sensors beeping. I braked then pulled forward & got out to fill the water tank.

    As I was standing there with hose in hand, a security guard drove up & jumped out. He said, “I saw that”. “What?” “You hit the trailer behind you”. I looked round to see a massive Winnebago trailer & in the side bit that sticks out there was a crease & the corner piece was smashed. Genuinely, I didn’t realise I had hit it. I don’t think the security guard believed me. The next thing I knew was the security guard was on his radio calling up his supervisor, GREAT.

    10 minutes later, 3 security vehicles turned up & surrounded us. The supervisor got out & spoke to his guard, then informed me that it was matter for the 2 parties to sort amongst ourselves. The security guard then knocked on the dented trailer. A minute or so later, the unhappy owner having just been woken up, came out in just shorts & a T-shirt. I explained that I had apparently hit his vehicle & I was immensely sorry. His reply “Well, it happens”

    Whilst I was writing out my details & insurance, he went to inspect the damage. By now he had pushed out the crease so you could hardly see it & said that he just needed to get the broken bit of plastic replaced. He is going to email me the bill. He turned out to be quite chilled once he had woken up.

    We were now running 30 minutes later than intended. We started to head out of St. Louis when we decided to fill up with fuel. We turned off the Highway into a bit of a rough area. We pulled up at the fuel pump & black fellow approached us for money for a coffee. Not being in the mood, Jackie said “No” abruptly. He walked away, but as I went to the shop he told me he had lived in Manchester for 6 months. I went in to the shop & the cashier told the beggar to leave the premises & when he answered back she said that she was going to call the Police. We filled the RV up with $111 of fuel & drove away quickly.

    We drove west on Highway 44, then picked up Route 100 which took us to a town called Washington, an old historic town named after George Washington. We then crossed the powerful Missouri River & followed Route 47. We took a small diversion to stop & photograph the grave of folk hero pioneer & explorer Daniel Boone.

    We joined Route 94 (The Lewis & Clark Trail) at Marthasville & followed it until we crossed the Missouri River into Hermann (No prizes for guessing it was founded by Germans). Hermann was a very attractive town with lots of good-looking buildings & is apparently the sausage making capital of Missouri.

    Back on Route 94 we followed it to Jefferson City for which I has low expectations, no reason for this, other than the name. My expectations were initially met when we first set eyes on the Missouri State Capitol to see that it had been shrink wrapped. It was covered in white plastic for renovations. We stopped opposite it for lunch, then located the other sights of Jefferson City - the now derelict maximum security Missouri State Penitentiary that has notably housed the boxer Sonny Liston & James Ray Earl, who killed Martin Luther King (He later escaped!) & the Lewis and Clark monument.

    From Jefferson City, we took US Route 50 (which travels over 3,000 miles from coast to coast & is known as the Loneliest Road) westbound. We passed through the towns of Knob Noster & Lone Jack & just north of Whiteman AFB, which is the home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

    At Lee’s Summit, we headed north to Independence, the hometown of Harry S Truman. Independence is also known as ‘Queen City of the Trails’ because it was a point of departure for the California, Oregon & Sante Fe Trails

    Next stop was Liberty, where there were 2 locations of interest. First we located the Historic Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was jailed during the 1838 Mormon War. Joseph Smith allegedly received revelations during his imprisonment there, which are now recorded in the LDS Doctrine & Covenants.

    After taking the obligatory photo of the Historic Liberty Jail sign (underneath of which says ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), I noticed there was a visitors entrance. I entered with Jackie reluctantly following behind. Inside I was pounded on by a large lady who insisted on shaking our hands, introducing herself as Canon something & thanking us for visiting. I quickly explained were with short on time & only wanted a quick look. We then passed to another church official who led us into the viewing gallery, where there was a cut away reconstruction on the original site. We took a photo, made our excuses & left.

    Next was the Clay County Savings Association Bank, which on February 13th 1866, Jesse James & hid gang robbed it of $60,000. This was particularly significant because it was the first daylight bank hold up in the US.

    After we stopped at Aldi for a couple more provisions. In the car park, a woman gave us her trolley & said “He’ll, it’s batshit crazy in there”. Undeterred we went in, got our bits then saw a massive queue, so put our bits back & walked out. I gave my trolley to another lady who insisted on me taking her 25 cents - bonus!

    We got our stuff from good old Walmart then cruised up & down Grand Boulevard in Kansas City. We had no time to stop, so we pushed on to our campsite, Kansas City West / Lawrence KOA arriving at 7.00pm & having driven over 350 miles today. After more chilli & a couple of drinks we were done.

    FITBIT = 9,521 steps / 4.42 miles.

    Song of the Day - Bankrobber by The Clash.

    Bonus Songs of the Day :-

    Liberty Song by The Levellers
    Just Like Jesse James by Cher
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  • Day 8

    Day 8 - Two Types of Evil in Kansas

    April 29, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Apparently the thunderstorm was horrendous at 2.30 this morning. Jackie thought the roof of our RV was going to cave in. Leisurely start today, for what is planned to be another long driving day & hopefully get to Dodge City.

    First stop was Stull Cemetery, known as the Devil’s Playground & supposedly the Gateway to Hell. Apparently it is the most evil place on earth & has a hidden staircase to the bowels of hell. Allegedly the Pope won’t fly over it.

    We were looking forward to it, but in reality it turned out to me a very ordinary looking cemetery, surrounded by a metal fence & several ‘No Trespassers’ signs. Reviews revealed that the local Police & residents of Stull were quick to clampdown on trespassers. No doubt they have lots of ghoul hunters looking for souvenirs. Jackie & I just took a photo & moved on.

    Next was the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka. I had already researched it & knew it was closed on Mondays, but it was still worth a visit for a photo. I felt a connection, 2 Daredevil kindred spirits!

    Whilst in Topeka we also visited the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. This was the location that ended segregation in American Public Schools. 13 ‘coloured’ families sued the Board of Education for discrimination because of segregation & won. The building is a museum & kept as it was back then. When you enter you are immediately taken back at the 2 signs hanging from the ceiling, one says ‘WHITE’, the other says ‘COLORED’.

    We then got on to Interstate 70 & after putting in another $120 of fuel, we raced westwards for the next 120 miles. To be honest, there wasn’t a lot to look at. Two thirds of Kansas is in The Great Central Plain of the United States. It is mainly agricultural with fields of wheat & corn as far as the eye can see.

    As we approached the town of Salina we headed north on Highway 81, then took Highway 18 through to the town of Lincoln. Here we were searching out the Travelling Salesman Monument. We hunted high & low for it in the town without success. So we had lunch & Googled it. The Monument was in the town cemetery, where else would it be? We found the small suitcase grave dedicated to J.S. Jacobs. Unfortunately his epitaph reads, “Here where he stoped last”.

    We then carried on Highway 18 to the little town of Lucas, full of eccentric artists. I was looking for 2 places in particular : 1. The Garden of Eden & 2. World’s Largest Things. We pulled up outside side the Garden of Eden, which is the home of strange folk & political art created by the owner Civil War Veteran S. P. Dinsmoor who started it in 1902 at the age of 64. We saw the owner providing a guided tour, so decided to discreetly photo the outside. We found the World’s Largest Things, but it was closed.

    Next we headed south to Wilson, where Jackie got out & posed beside the World’s Largest Czech Egg for a photo. We continued south for Cheyenne Bottoms which is a wetland in the Great Central Plains, which is a critical stopping off point for millions of migrating birds. Unfortunately we missed the turning so instead we circumnavigated it. We arrived at Great Bend & rejoined Highway 56 to Pawnee Rock.

    Pawnee Rock is considered one of the most important & beautiful landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail. Unfortunately I turned off Highway 56 prematurely, so had to turn round & rejoin the 56. As I turning right, we went down a dip in the road & we then deafened by the sound of smashing crockery.

    We pulled over to survey the damage & needless to say both blamed each other. After sorting out the mess, we continued to the Pawnee Rock Memorial in stony silence. I got out for a quick photo & on we went.

    At Kinsley, we picked up Highway 50 & followed it into Dodge city & to our Dodge City KOA. At check in we were informed of the available facilities, which included a storm shelter. Oh yes, we are smack bang in the middle of tornado alley. We are also right next to a zoo. Jackie made hotdogs served up on what’s left of the plates we have!

    It is worthy of mention, that after Kinsley, we were faced with literally 100 & 100’s of wind turbines. They are a vital source of energy for the region.

    It was another long driving day, but we have decided to do it one final time. After which we will be at the foot of the Rockies for some much needed scenery.

    FITBIT = 7,259 steps / 3.37 miles.

    Song of the Day - Knievel by New Model Army.

    Bonus Songs of the Day :-

    Cemetery Gates by Pantera
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  • Day 10

    Day 9 - The Lonliest Road.

    May 1, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Woke up to a few grunts & snorts....it was the zoo next door. We had filled up the grey waste tank & were unable to empty it, because I had been too tight the extra. Jackie was forced to shower in the campsite block (she won’t be doing that too often - all her clothes got wet).

    After breakfast, we set out for the Boot Hill Museum leaving the RV still hooked up & Jackie ‘s damp clothes drying in the sun. En-route we took photos of various statues around Dodge City, then just after 9.00am we visited the museum.

    First we watched an informative 13 minute video that told us all about the history of Dodge City. It was established in 1871 by a cattle rancher & soon cowboys were driving their Texas Longhorn cattle from Texas through. Buffalo hunters moved into the area & the town grew with the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad. Bars, brothels & gambling dens soon sprang up & became pretty lawless. Some of the prostitutes had brilliant names such as Squirrel Tooth Alice, Big Nose Kate & Big Emma.

    Shootings were a daily occurrence & the dead were often buried with their boots still on in the cemetery on the hill, hence it acquired it’s name ‘Boot Hill Cemetery’. The 1st recorded burial at Boot Hill Cemetery was Jack Reynolds in September 1872 who was shot 6 times. The last burial was Alice Chambers on 5th May 1878.

    Dodge City soon acquired a reputation as the most wickedest place in America & the true Cowboy Capital of the World. Law enforcement arrived in the form of the infamous Wyatt Earp & Batt Masterson, who were trigger happy but turned the town around.

    The Museum is actually situated on the cemetery, of which part of it still remains in tact. There are plaques & wooden epitaphs for some of it’s buried residents. The museum consisted of numerous buildings accurately reproduced from the originals & contained original artefacts from the time. It was fascinating & Jackie has declared it her highlight of the trip so far.

    One interesting but sad fact is that in 1870 there were over 30 million buffalo roaming the prairie around Dodge City, but by the turn of the century there was less that 1000. Hunters were rounding them up & slaughtering them in their hundreds each day. One photo should man stood on a pile of buffalo skulls at least 50 ft high. In the gift shop, Jackie treated me to genuine buffalo skin credit card wallet.

    Whilst in the Museum the weather had changed dramatically & it was thunder & lightning. We had no choice to run back in the pelting rain, unhook & drive out of the campsite at 10.59am. We had to be out by 11.00!!

    Today, the plan was to pelt along Highway 50 (The Loneliest Road) for over 300 miles to Cañon City & some proper scenery. We put a $100 fuel in the RV at Cimarron, then continued through the rather desolate towns of Ingalls, Garden City, Larkin, Syracuse & Coolidge. Every single town in western Kansas has a ‘Prairie Cathedral’, a massive white storage silo for wheat.

    At 1.30pm we crossed into Colorado & immediately stopped for lunch a coffee & a sandwich. Then it was on through Holly, Granada, Lamar (where we stopped to take a photo of the Petrified Wood Car Dealership), Hasty, Las Animas & La Junta, where I also planned to stop but in our haste we missed it.

    On we went, still on Highway 50, through Swink, Rocky Ford, Manzanola, Fowler & Avondale to Pueblo. On this days drive so far we had really not seen anything of interest, just Prairie Cathedrals & we smelt them before we saw them, lots & lots & lots of cattle ranches with thousands of cattle tightly penned in together & being fattened up ready for slaughter. We was not nice to see, it brought home the realities of Cattle farming & almost wanted to make you turn vegetarian.

    At Peublo, we turned off to photo the National Medal of Honor Memorial in the modestly named Heroes Plaza, then we parked up for a stroll along the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo. We wished we had bothered because it was very man made & fake looking, also annoyingly I forgot to wear my Fitbit.

    We then spent an age looking for a Walmart to pick up some dinner, chicken & salami pasta. We raced on to Cañon City, refuelled (another $100) then drove up to our KOA campsite at Royal Gorge. This is what we had been looking for - surrounded by The Rockies. We supped a beer as the sun went down over the mountains & made the decision we would stay here a 2nd night.

    The remainder of the evening was spent having dinner & watching the first 3 episodes of the brilliant ‘After Life’.

    FITBIT = 10,141 steps / 4.72 miles.

    Song of the Day - The Loneliest Road (feat. Phil Wiggins) by Blackwater Mojo.
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  • Day 10

    Day 10 - A Bridge Too Far (& TOO High)

    May 1, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Freezing start to the morning, but by 9.00am, the sun was out & everything heated up.

    After a leisurely morning, we headed out for the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. We had booked our tickets on line & upon arrival felt pleased with ourselves that we had saved $8 each on general admission. Our smugness was slightly diminished when we informed that the gondolas had been suspended due to high winds. I was secretly pleased.

    The Royal Gorge Bridge is 955 feet above the Arkansas River, 1260 feet long, 18 feet wide & made up of 1292 planks. Most incredibly is that it was built in 1929.

    As we approached the bridge, my bum went funny & my legs turned to jelly. Jackie strutted around without a care in the world. Eventually I managed to take a couple of photos & even attempted a selfie, which was bloody awful.

    We successfully reached the other side & went to the Theatre where we were shown a film about the construction of the bridge. The builders were utter lunatics with not a safety rope or harness in sight. For someone trained at ‘Working at Heights’, I was shocked.

    We had a wander round the park, scoffed at the idiots doing some sort of bungee ride, then realised the gondola was now working - oh joy. As we walked up to the gondola station to get a ride back over the gorge, I had to stop for a nervous wee. The gondola arrived at the station & a parks employee cam elite to say that they needed to suspend the gondola operation because the wind had got up again. I was half annoyed, but also half relieved.

    As a result we had to walk back over the bridge. We had lunch in the RV & monitored the gondola, but it didn’t start up again. Matters were made worse when I realised that I had forgotten to wear my Fitbit again.

    After lunch, we drove down into Cañon City, we drove past the Colorado State Penitentiary, which had a museum, but it didn’t take our fancy (Not enough notorious inmates). I have since read that Cañon City prospers not so much from tourism as from prisons. It has a dozen prisons, including a top security superman prison with 500 of the nations most dangerous including the Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols & Al Qaeda ‘Shoe Bomber’ Richard Reid. Amazingly we didn’t see the other eleven.

    Instead we drove up & down Main Street. We didn’t feel the need to stop & get out so we drove 8 miles south to Florence an old historic oil town. It was much more attractive than Cañon City & was full of Antiques Shops. We went to the Rocky Mountain Bank & changed a $5 note for 25 cent coins.

    On the way back we stopped at Pathfinder Park for a photo of John Charles Fremont, The Great Pathfinder. We arrived back at our KOA campsite just after 3.00pm, realising that we were were in a different time zone, presumably when we crossed into Colorado the previous day. We loaded up the washing machines & dryer with our dirty clothes & 25 cent coins, then just relaxed in the sun in our camping chairs with a couple of beers.

    We did have a couple of disasters that evening:-

    1. We snapped off the catch on the window beside the cooker whilst trying to let the cooking smells out.

    2. Whilst watching the rest of After Life, I ‘clumsily’ knocked my glass of red wine off the table onto the seat & all over my shorts. The red wine didn’t stop there, it dripped down into an electric panel, which set an alarm off and lights to start flashing. Luckily they eventually stopped & we had 18 dishcloths.

    FITBIT = 5,507 steps / 2.56 miles

    Song of the Day - Vertigo by U2.
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